Saturday, June 7, 2014

Attitudes and Positive Affirmations

Attitudes make all the difference in the world. I've been exploring my own attitude about being a writer and how it affects my work. I've discovered that the poorer the attitude, the harder it is to write a good story. Lately, I've discovered a definite lack of positive affirmations to build me up and give me the courage to write. I constantly question my writing skills.

Am I really writing on a level that portrays what I'm trying to say?

Am I good enough to put my work out to the public?

I see other writers that are able to say their work is good. Why am I afraid to do this? Sometimes I lack confidence in myself and will find myself running self-criticism in my head. This is called your inner critic. An example of this is when I recently won third place in a writing contest. My reaction was: What? Did only three people enter?

I've been told that all writers go through periods of self-doubt and lack of confidence. With this in mind, I can lean on the fact that all writers have been through what I've experienced. Therefore, I've decided to give myself an exerciseand attack the inner critic with a barrage of positive self-talk.

I am an aspiring writer, climbing up the ladder and learning as I go.

I can only be who I am and the more I write the better I will become.

As my urge to write increases, my desire for more knowledge expands with it. This will make each story more in exciting and appealing.

I am not alone, even though as a writer I write alone. My friends and colleagues support me with their critiques and friendship.

I am a good writer. Each stage of growth proves that I grow and become better all the time.

Even as I write these positive affirmations I feel my inner being becoming stronger and lighter. The heavy burden of intense criticism is peeling away like the layers of an onion. What's left is the honest critiques that we give ourselves as writers.

If you are suffering from an inner critic that is hammering at you, try writing some "love notes" to yourself and see what happens!

8 comments:

I like the idea of writing "love notes" to yourself! We can be so hard on ourselves.

And I love that YOU wrote out your own affirmations. I've read that when we try to take ones written by others, sometimes inside we argue with them, resisting them. Affirmations are only effective if we BELIEVE them.

But since these came from inside YOU, your heart can open and embrace their truths. I think the ones you wrote here are terrific!! Really, I can tell you spent a lot of time thinking about them, and they feel heartfelt and "deep".

Retta: Thank you for the positive affirmation. :-) Your comments are always so uplifting and encouraging. It shows you probably do affirmations of your own. I believe they leak out in the way we speak to others.

What you said to Susan got me to thinking about the things that Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo. I can't speak of writers, but painters certainly have spells of discouragement!! Here's some of my favorite quotes from Van Gogh:

-I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.

-I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.

-If you hear a voice within saying "you cannot paint", then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

-In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.

I actually find it encouraging to know even the Greats had to give themselves a good talking to at times. :-)

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About Me

My passion for writing comes from the world I've experienced. I spent part of my life as a musician, a mother, an RN and finally a writer. I like to go back and explore those worlds to find the richness in each one. I'm always in the process of creating something and this blog is a reflection of that creativity. When looking for a story, I've learned the thing to do is to forget everything except the spectacle of life. "I will live this day to it's fullest. Time is the coin of my life and I choose to spend it wisely." ~Unknown